St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-24
TOOK A PLUNGE.
A Dahlgren Gun Exploring the
Bottom of the Sea.

Special to the Globe.
NEWPORT, R. l., Oct. 23.-The naval
maneuvers of the North Atlantic squad
ron, under command of Rear Admiral
Luce, were interrupted yesterday when
iye-ton Dahlgren gun, carriage and
all, gracefully slid from its platform be-
tween two sailing launches intended to
carry the heavy piece on shore and dis
appeared below the waves of Newport
bay. 1t had been intended to transport
nine-inch gun on shore to Rhode Is
land. where a battery was to be estab-
ished for the purpose of holding the
great gun target practice On shore, using
shell. The gun selected to be trans
ported was one of the nine-inch guns on
board the flagship Richmond. The gun
was to be transported with the carriage,
at the same time securing the same
in such manner that on landing
the gun could be easily rolled on shore
without necessitatiDg the erection Of
derricks to lift the gun from the boat
onto the beach. Without first dismount-
ing the gun two heavy sailing launches
were brought alongside the flagship
Richmond. Both the launches were
spars and planking and securely lashed
on either boat was the platform. The
gun was securely laShed with heavy
ropes and chains, and after everything
had been pronounced to be in readiness
for transportation the gun was hoisted
clear off the ships side and was gradu-
ally and carefully lowered down to the
water and finally landed on the top of
the platform between the two launches.
The gun, after having been thoroughly
cured, was relieved of her tackles
and rested on the platform; Every
thing went on all right, the
strong to carry the weight and prepara-
tions were made to lower the raft on
shore when suddenly crash, bang, crash,
cracking of the timberS and splash
told that the platform had given way.
The spars had broken off short on the
gunWale of one of the boats, and as the
gun gracefully
SLID DOWN INTO THE WATER,
the heavy weight caused one of the sail
ing launches to capslZe, while the other
one filled with water. There were three
feared that they might drown. 1t could
not be ascertained whether any of the
men had been struck by the sinking gun
or not. A number of others in the other
boat were thrown overheard, but were
picked up. The excitement was great.
The three men who had been in the
capsized boat luckily managed to swim
from under it, and were picked up by
their shipmates. One of the men was
seriously hurt, while two others were
bruised. The capsized boat drifted away
some distance and soon righted, and a
steam cutter began to wind her. That
nothing serious happened was miracle.
Fortunately, a heavy rope with buoy
attached to one end was secured to the
gun when it was hoisted over the ships
side, so it was easy to locate it. Yester-
day afternoon two divers came over and
descended in order to put heavy haw-
ser around the gun by aid of which it
could be hoisted. One of the sailors,
who was in the capsized boat, gunner,
who had served in the navy during the
war, said he did not care bit about the
ducking, if he had not lost piece of to-
bacco which he carried in his shirt
pocket, when he was thrown overheard.
The little incident. as it came off, with
no loss of life or serious damage, has
proved good lesson, and as a promi-
nent naval officer remarked, it was
worth dozen lectures.